Web Development

CUSTOM WEB DEVELOPMENT, e-COMMERCE & BRAND STRATEGY

We’are obsessed with thoughtfully crafting complete brand experiences anchored around custom, responsive websites. Based in the heart of Maple, Ontario, we’re an Expert Partner with an explicit focus on customer experience. We thrive on working with passionate clients who are excited about growing their businesses and realizing their brand’s true potential.

Web Design & Development (UI/UX)

Designing and developing websites and experience-driven user-interfaces is our primary focus and we’ve got an ever-expanding bag of tricks we’d like to share with you. We offer uncompromised, end-to-end web design solutions for individuals, small businesses, start-ups and some of the biggest players in the biz.

At SearchHook, we consider your input vital to our creative process. With a teamwork/community approach, we’ll create a shared vision that acts as our beacon throughout your website design project. Our most creative work comes from merging your expertise with ours.

From brainstorming to launch, we’ll guide you through each step of our process. Whether this is your first web design project, or you’re a seasoned veteran, this outline will give you an idea of what to expect as we move through the stages of production.

STEP 1: QUOTE REQUEST

The first step is to gather all of the details and specifications for your website to help determine the scope of the project. In many cases, this process is started via our online quote form. We’d like to know as much as possible about your business and see a few examples of other websites that have the look, feel, and or functionality that you are looking for. (It’s okay for you to tell us about sites that you don’t like too.)

STEP 2: PROJECT EVALUATION

We can set up face-to-face meetings and phone calls to make sure we have all of the details straight. We may scribble on a napkin or two as we answer all of your deepest, darkest web-related questions, and hopefully get a feel for what it would be like to work together. At this point, we’ll have the information we need to start assembling our proposed recommendations and associated budget.

STEP 3: FORMAL PROPOSAL & AGREEMENT

Say the word, and we will draft a formal proposal for you to review. We don’t just slap your name in a proposal template and hope for the best. We outline our process for your specific project, and we include every single detail of what your site will include. Most of the time, we can give you a hard quote based on the number of hours we think the project will take. We stick by our quotes even if we go over the allotted hours, after all, we’re the experts. However, if something new or unforeseen comes up during the project (that was not covered in the original scope), we will discuss how the budget and timeframe will change. We want you to know exactly what you’re paying for, how long it will take, and what it will cost. No one likes surprises—especially surprise costs. If everything looks good, we’ll assemble an agreement and statement of work for your signature, and send an accompanying invoice for a deposit.

STEP 4: PLANNING, DESIGN RESEARCH & DISCOVERY

Depending on the size of the project, this step is crucial. Understanding your target audience, competitors, and goals is an extremely important starting point for any successful design project. During this phase, we work out a proper sitemap and flow, create mood boards, organize content and gather all the appropriate assets. This phase helps us understand the challenges and solutions we’ll provide with creative design. Armed with this information, we can build a website that works for your customers, not just you, and not just us.

STEP 5: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND WIREFRAMING

Before we start designing the site, we’ll be creating wireframes that outline the general layouts and components the designs should include. This can be a combination of sketches, whiteboard diagrams and/or wireframe prototypes. This process maps out and helps ensure that all of the most important information and expected elements are in place, and gives us a good guide on how the site pages should be laid out and flow. Think of this as the blueprints or plans you need before building a house. Once completed, we’ll review with you to refine for accuracy and use it as the basis for page elements as we design the layouts.

STEP 6: DESIGN PHASE

Working closely with our creative director, our lead designer will design the graphics and mock up a concept for your new website’s home page, while keeping your industry, preferences, and target audience in mind. Our standard projects generally include multiple design concepts with revisions, as needed, to finalize the design. We then mock up any other key pages of the site’s design that require special layouts, while ensuring the look and feel of all pages are consistent site-wide. For responsive designs, we even mock up mobile formats of every page for review.

STEP 7: HTML/CSS PRODUCTION

Once the design concept is selected and approved by you, we’ll start on the development and production of the site. We code all of our websites using standards-based XHTML/CSS that is highly cross-browser compatible, fast loading, and search-engine-friendly. The site-ready text and images (content) that’s been prepared will be added to each page of the website layout during this phase.

STEP 8: PROGRAMMING / PLATFORM IMPLEMENTATION

Most of the websites we build are dynamic in some way, which require custom web programming for functionality. Upon your approval of the static XHTML/CSS site layout, we’ll begin the programming phase of the project. (This phase includes converting the site from static HTML/CSS to a dynamic, database-driven website.) We custom program any special functionality into your site, which often includes building a custom Content Management System (CMS) so the website can be quickly and easily updated by you. We will also configure, implement, and customize any third-party or open-source web software at this time. This software includes e-commerce shopping carts, blogs, and so on.

STEP 9: FINAL REVIEW, QA TESTING & TRAINING

When all of the dynamic web programmings has been completed, we will review and test the entire website with you. We will also provide training for any administration tools that your site may require. Finally, we’ll do a thorough audit and the finishing touches will be completed in preparation for launch.

STEP 10: LAUNCH!

When everything has been tested and approved, your training has been completed, and the final balance of the project has been received, we launch the new website and everyone celebrates—Ideally with a nice frosty beverage! Once launched, we’ll be standing by to handle any requests, additions or enhancements for the life of your website, and will plan to check in with you regularly to make sure things stay up to date.